Antimatter sounds like pure science fiction, but it’s entirely real, it’s made in laboratories every day, and the fact that it exists at all points to one of the deepest unsolved mysteries in physics. This episode explains what antimatter actually is.

You’ll come away understanding what an antiparticle is, why matter and antimatter annihilate on contact, how we make and trap tiny amounts of it, and why the universe’s lopsided preference for matter is such a profound puzzle.

Talking Science is sponsored by Kinsoft. Visit www.kinsoft.com.au

Further reading: CERN – “Antimatter” pages; Symmetry Magazine – “Ten things you might not know about antimatter”; Frank Close, Antimatter.